Immigration and Ireland - MEGATHREAD *Mod Note Added 14/08/25*

Luckily I have mine bought and paid for but you can't say the same for a lot of my fellow Irish.

Which is it?

Why is it an either or situation?

On the one hand you have a huge increase of irregular immigration, such as the people that are posing as asylum seekers and using the IPAS system to circumvent visa controls. These people are largely heavily reliant on state supports, even after being granted leave to remain.

On the other hand you have legal immigrants entering the country at an excessive rate. These people are often skilled and financially stable. They are of benefit to the country and pay taxes. However, given the current housing crisis and huge capacity issues in numerous various realms of our infrastructure, the rate at which they are entering is too high. Capacity cannot keep up.

Over 70,000 people in the last 3 years from India alone.
You’re taking great delight in mocking Irish people struggling to buy a house in their own country but you realise that even 0.1% of the top 10% of earners in India equates to about 15 million people? Even a tiny modicum of those top earners moving to Ireland is an enormous source of people that have the spending power to out compete the native population.

It appears you simply don’t grasp the scale of it in terms of the numbers of people to compete against. But then again you obviously don’t care, you’re clearly a homeowner yourself and are safe and secure to able to pontificate to the losers that were unfortunate enough to be born after you.

Anyway, there you go - this whole “Schrödinger’s immigrant” false dichotomy is a load of reductive bollocks.
Immigrants can be net burdens on the economy or can also outcompete native population - like anyone else, they are not all the same.

You don't need statistics to see that there are too many non europeans living in Ireland, you just need to get out, have a walk in the city centre, any city will do. Nothing justifies what you'll see, they can't all be here working highly skilled jobs, you will see the same amount of non europeans working in Tesco too. So anyone still believing they don't put any significant pressure on housing healthcare and education is completely deluded.

There was embarrassment mentioned, well, that's true, what is also true is that embarrassment will easily turn to anger and that anger can turn to violence, it already did.

Over 70,000 people in the last 3 years from India alone.

PPSNs granted does not mean that they are taking up residence here? How many of those PPSNs are granted to non-resident Indians?

According to Census 2022 the number of non-Irish citizens resident in Ireland was only 12% of the population -

There were 4.3 million people who usually lived in Ireland who indicated that they had either Irish only or dual Irish citizenship. This made up 84% of the population of usual residents. The number of non-Irish citizens increased in 2022, accounting for 12% of the population.

The largest group of non-Irish citizens taking up residence in the State in the year prior to the census came from India, with 9,687 arrivals.

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cpsr/censusofpopulation2022-summaryresults/migrationanddiversity/


Anyway, there you go - this whole “Schrödinger’s immigrant” false dichotomy is a load of reductive bollocks.

It’s almost as false a dichotomy as claiming that the rates at which immigrants are entering the country is too high, while ignoring the figures for emigration from Ireland to other countries around the world. It’s the same kind of nonsense ‘logic’ that David McWilliams uses to claim that Ireland needs to start building 100k houses per year to cope with demand caused by immigration 🙄

The whole point of making the statement that it must be embarrassing growing up in a first world country with free college education only to get outbid by immigrants ‘from shithole countries’, is to point out that none of this nuance existed previously from people making claims about immigrants being poorly educated and reliant on welfare and all the rest of it. Now they are acknowledging that it IS doctors and nurses and highly educated immigrants are able to afford property in Ireland and they’re somehow depriving Irish people of what some people imagine they’re entitled to simply by virtue of being born in Ireland, as though anyone selling property is supposed to give a damn for whether or not the buyer is Irish.

There’s nothing preventing anyone from buying property as long as they can afford it, and that’s not any ‘pretend lefty’ nonsense, it’s how the Irish property market functions, and Irish people are quite happy to maintain the property market as it is because those Irish people who own property don’t wish to see their property decrease in value should Government start taking their cues from David McWilliams.

I’m happy to use the same logic that is applied by prominent economists such as David McWilliams in leading newspapers

I don’t think you know what the word dichotomy means
12 months April 23-24 we had 69,900 emigrants from Ireland vs 149,200 immigrants. It is totally unbalanced and it’s honestly ridiculous for you to even attempt to pretend that this immigration fuelled population growth is not impacting the housing crisis.

Yes that is how the Irish property market functions - and it’s a total shitshow, home ownership in the under 40 cohort has utterly collapsed in a generation and that’s your answer?
“That’s how it works, so it’s grand” incredible.

That is precisely why I have made the point before that non eu nationals should be subject to 100% tax on purchase as in Spain. People should have to be resident for 5 years before they are eligible to buy property.There should be a freeze on non resident foreign entities buying up property.

But yes you are right, unfortunately many Irish people had it easy in the past, bought their house for nothing and are now extra protective of their disgustingly inflated assets - happy to sell off the future of the next Irish generation to the highest bidder, whomever it may be (and as they’re already sitting pretty, they also get to moralise and pontificate to the “racist” youth who can’t get a house even for quadruple what they themselves paid).
Load of greedy, bloodsucking bastards.

As an indigenous Irish person, perhaps you could extend your consideration for us by including Eastern Europeans like yourself? Imagine what you posted would look like then…

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You don't need statistics to see that there are too many Eastern Europeans living in Ireland, you just need to get out, have a walk in the city centre, any city will do. Nothing justifies what you'll see, they can't all be here working highly skilled jobs, you will see the same amount of Eastern Europeans working in Tesco too. So anyone still believing they don't put any significant pressure on housing healthcare and education is completely deluded.

There was embarrassment mentioned, well, that's true, what is also true is that embarrassment will easily turn to anger and that anger can turn to violence, it already did.

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I think we could use the murder of Josip Strok for speaking his own language as an example to help give more credence to the final point you made.

Going off your logic, you could always deport yourself, which would ease the "burden" you've caused on us indigenous Irish people as you have taken up housing that one of us could have taken for a start.

I'm just going off your own logic. Perhaps you could correct me if I'm wrong?

By that same logic: I don't need to imagine anything, what I've stated is true and doesn't depend on my personal circumstances: There are too many Eastern Europeans in Ireland.

As an Eastern European, you are in a great position to do something about that and remove the burden you cause on the indigenous Irish people that are suffering due to you taking up their resources.

I’m happy to use the same logic that is applied by prominent economists such as David McWilliams in leading newspapers 

Obviously! It aligns with your already held views, why wouldn’t you use it? I don’t think you’re suggesting anyone else has to use it.

I don’t think you know what the word dichotomy means

12 months April 23-24 we had 69,900 emigrants from Ireland vs 149,200 immigrants. It is totally unbalanced and it’s honestly ridiculous for you to even attempt to pretend that this immigration fuelled population growth is not impacting the housing crisis.

I know what it means, I even know what false dichotomy means, and for long enough the narrative of those opposed to immigration was that it was predominantly economic immigrants who were arriving in the country to claim welfare and take advantage of the Irish Governments apparent generosity. It turns out that’s simply not true (it never was, but hey ho!), and now immigrants are buying up all available properties and outbidding people who are Irish. They’re simply outbidding other buyers, there’s not 70,000 people competing for one property, that’s a false dilemma. Pretty much like the way you’re presenting your figures. There’s nothing ridiculous about it when those figures are put in their proper context -

Net migration of 80,000 (I won’t quibble), natural increase of 20,000, means a population change of 100,000, in a population of 5,400,000.

I think you’re exaggerating the effect of immigration on housing, which has always been an issue for those who couldn’t afford it, regardless of whether they were Irish or immigrant. It’s why in spite of consistent calls from some quarters to insert a right to housing in the Irish Constitution, the established political parties have shied away from the idea as they can’t afford to lose another referendum when they’re barely hanging onto power by the skin of their teeth.

Load of greedy, bloodsucking bastards.

You almost forgot -

Load of IRISH greedy, bloodsucking bastards.

But Indians seem to like it here all the same, as we share a lot in common, our cultural attitudes towards work, self-improvement, and providing for our children (not your children or anyone else’s children, our own children, which is something some people seem to forget that people who wish to accumulate and maintain wealth prefer to keep it in the family, to be passed on to the next generation) -

https://archive.ph/7mpVM

If I was living in England and essentially complaining about the burden I was causing on the English people, to the point of suggesting that violence may happen as a result of the dissatisfaction of English people to my presence there, it would be a reasonable question to ask me why I am still there causing that burden.

It's more of a moral point really. I can turn around and say, "Well actually, I have a legal right to be here and I’ll stay until the laws change. I will continue to simultaneously be a tragic burden and a stubborn squatter, thank you very much", but can you see how that kind of completely torpedos the original moral hand-wringing of the point I was making about my concern about the resources and effect of my presence on the indigenous English peoples?

The cohort listed is 25-39

And the crises has very much accelerated even since 2022

Fair enough on the 25 point, but I don’t think a single one of my parent’s friends for example hadn’t yet sorted a home over the age of 35. Fairly commonplace now.

Making up quotes is your bag stephen.

Are you arguing with me about the direct quotes i supplied from the article you provided as a source?

How is it disingenuous?

You’ve cited figures from 3 years ago relating to only a portion of the cohort mentioned.
If the IT’s figures are wrong and home ownership is actually higher than 7% in that cohort can you please show us how they’re wrong?